Jared Butler faced Davion Mitchell on the court plenty of times during practice at Baylor but the Utah Jazz guard admitted it will be rather odd to see him in the NBA.
Butler and Mitchell were teammates for three seasons and helped lead the Bears to the national championship last season. They combined to score 37 points in the title game as Butler was named the NCAA Final Four Most Outstanding Player and Mitchell was an All-American.
The two will now face each other on Friday as Mitchell and the Sacramento Kings will host Butler and the Jazz. The game, Butler admitted, will be extremely weird.
It is going to be extremely weird for me because it’s like Davion has always been on my team. I’m always rooting for him and now I’m going to be like rooting for him but not rooting for him, you know?
Butler said the opportunity to face Mitchell in practice helped him improve his game. Mitchell was named the Naismith Defensive Player of the Year last year and made a name for himself on that end of the floor, earning the “Off-night” nickname.
It is always getting brought up but going against Jrue Holiday, I was like, ‘I’ve gone against the miniature Jrue Holiday my whole college career!’ Davion is a special guy, special talent. He has helped me out a ton, I know that for sure.
The contest between the Jazz and Kings should prove to be very entertaining, as both teams will enter the contest 1-0 after winning on Wednesday. The battle between Butler and Mitchell will also be a nice footnote, if they are matched up with each other.
This post originally appeared on Rookie Wire! Follow us on Facebook!
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